BUREAU OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL 

 FOR THE STUDY OF THE SEA 



Report of Administration 



for the first year: 22"^ July 1902 -21^^ July 1903 



The Bureau of the International Council has the honour to present the first 

 report of its administration. 



The International Council for the study of the sea was constituted at Copen- 

 hagen on the 23°d of July 1902. 



Preliminary! In the year 1899 the Swedish Government, on the instigation of the Swedish 



o^f stockMm" Hydrographical Commission, invited those states which are specially interested in 

 and Christiania the study of the uorth-european seas , to a conference at which some plan might 

 be drawn up for an international cooperation with regard to the scientific explor- 

 ation of the sea. The conference took place at Stockholm in June 1899, and a 

 preliminary programme of work was then outlined. On the invitation of the Nor- 

 wegian Government a second conference followed in May 1901 at Christiania, and 

 at this the Stockholm proposals were supplemented and put into their final form- 



It was thereby shown that the research work might best be divided into two 

 main divisions, of which the one had in view the physical conditions of the sea, the 

 other the biological — more especially with regard to the animals most useful as 

 human food. Naturally, it was seen from the beginning that the study of the 

 physical conditions, of the chemical nature of the ocean waters, of the currents etc., 

 was of the greatest importance for the investigation of the problems connected with 

 life, that on the other hand, the study of the floating organisms had particular 

 worth for the solution of hydrographical problems, and consequently that a sharp 

 line should never be drawn between these two main divisions , yet nevertheless. 



